Hotel du Lac
by Giles Foster
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Product details
Actor: Anna Massey, Denholm Elliott, Googie Withers, Julia McKenzie, Patricia HodgeDirector: Giles Foster
Edition: VHS Tape
Format: PAL
VHS Movie Reviews of Hotel du Lac
Movie Review: Love brings Edith Hope to the Hotel du Lac out of season.
Summary: 5 Stars
An adaptation more faithful to the original book you will not find. This wistfully acted, beautifully photographed British television production of Anita Brookner's Booker Prize winning novel is a delight to watch over and over again to pick up on nuances perhaps overlooked in a single viewing. Anna Massey, here middle-aged (remember her as Tom Courtenay's young victim in Michael Powell's Peeping Tom?) is perfectly cast as Edith, a romance writer who knows her market and who is in self-imposed exile after leaving her prospective groom waiting, with all her friends, outside the church because she thinks she has something better than a loveless marriage to keep her occupied. At the Hotel du Lac she encounters the most eccentric characters, who are also on the run from themselves, including a rapidly aging ingenue and her mother, played by the marvelous Googie Withers (see her also in Expresso Bongo with the very young Cliff Richard), a young woman with 'an eating disorder' that keeps her from starting a family, and the elderly Countess played to perfection by Irene Handl in one of her very last roles. Edith also receives an alternative offer of marriage from a jaded businessman played by Denholm Elliott. All of the actors are top notch but the Swiss background is the real star here. For quiet contemplative drama with brittle yet insightful dialogue much of it carried over from the book, don't miss Hotel du Lac. I only wish this was available on DVD, my preferred format for collecting these days.
Summary of Hotel du Lac
Hotel du Lac is an impeccably produced BBC television adaptation of Anita Brookner's Booker Prize-winning novel. Middle-aged writer Edith Hope has fled London and romantic disappointment to find sanctuary at a luxury hotel on a Swiss Lake, but finding no escape from her loneliness must eventually face her past. Edith is played with compassion by Anna Massey, her intellect and wit acting as a defense against her own failings, and support comes from a superb cast including Denholm Elliott, Googie Withers, Julia McKenzie, Patricia Hodge, Irene Handl, and Barry Foster.Brookner's apparently slight but multilayered tale is skillfully crafted by writer Christopher Hampton, who has with such films as Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and The Quiet American (2002) become a master of literary adaptation. Giles Foster's direction focuses on bringing the best from his cast, rather than attempting any sort of cinematic sweep, and Carl Davis's eloquent theme music makes the introspection all the more touching. Ultimately, though, it is Anna Massey's insightful central performance which makes Hotel du Lac such a memorable slice of television. --Gary S. Dalkin
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